Materials News
Asia trying to make a clean break from plastic waste Southeast Asian and South Asian countries are preventing plastic waste leakage into the environment and oceans, with industry-led initiatives and solutions being stepped up, says Angelica Buan in this report. Southeast Asia’s urbanisation creates more waste Asia’s rapid urbanisation has spurred industrialisation, infrastructure, technologies and more waste! In the ASEAN alone, more than half its estimated population of 650 million are settled in urban areas. Based on the United Nations’ ASEAN waste management report, the region’s daily per capita Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) generation is 1.14 kg. Indonesia accounts for the highest bulk of municipal waste with 64 million tonnes/year, followed by Thailand, generating an estimated 26.8 million tonnes/year, and Vietnam, with around 22 million tonnes. Meanwhile, the Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore churned out 14.7 million tonnes, 12.8 million tonnes, and 7.5 million tonnes of MSW respectively; while Myanmar and Laos generated below 1 million tonnes/year. The waste streams comprise organic waste, plastic, paper, metals, healthcare waste, E-waste, industrial waste, and construction and demolition waste. A 2020 World Wide Fund (WWF) report says that Southeast Asia and China are responsible for an average of 8 million tonnes of plastics entering the oceans, 80% of which are from land-based sources entering through the rivers. Marine waste that decomposes into microplastics can harm some 80 0 species of marine life. Five countries in Asia: China, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines, account for 60% of plastics entering the oceans.
Land-based plastic waste can contaminate the soil and water sources. Reports say that Southeast Asia and China account for about 8 million tonnes of plastics entering the oceans, 80% of which are from land-based sources
6
MARCH 2021
Land-based plastic waste is as problematic as marine debris because it can contaminate the soil and water sources. When improperly disposed of or incinerated, it can cause air pollution. The WWF briefing report mentioned that plastic production and incineration accounted for 860 million t o n n e s o f c a r b o n e m i s s i o n s i n 2 019 . M e a nw h i l e , packaging, which is the largest user of plastics, is found to represent nearly half of the global plastic waste. Collective efforts against uncontrolled waste More than a few projects on plastic wastes and marine litter have been launched by private groups, businesses and non-governmental organisations to find solutions to curb the accumulation of plastic waste through technologies, policies, and advanced modalities of waste management. Among the most active ones are Plastic Pollution Coalition (2013), Clean Ocean Project (2000), 5 Gyres (2009), Ocean Conservancy (1972), Parley for the Oceans (2012) and Oceans Cleanup (2013). U K - b a s e d ch a r i t y, E l l e n M c A rt h u r Fo u n d a t i o n , espouses a circular economy that does not produce waste since it is “regenerative and restorative” by design. As opposed to the “take-make-waste” linear model, a circular economy reutilises and remanufactures old, used materials, or they are recycled into sources of energy. By all standards, Southeast Asia is being primed to spearhead the circular economy in the region, considering its rapid industrialisation and huge consumption of plastics. A project launched by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) and the government of Japan, Closing the Loop, will support ASEAN cities to adopt a circular economy approach to manage their waste, increase the rate of recovery and reduce the leakage of plastics into the marine environment. The pilot cities for the project are Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Surabaya, Indonesia; Nakhon Si Thammarat, Thailand; and Danang, Vietnam. ` The project will assist national governments to utilise digital tools and smart technologies such as such as remote sensing, satellite, drones, geospatial mapping, and crowdsourced data applications to monitor, spot, and visualise the sources of plastic waste entering water streams and the oceans.